podcasts pour tous les Acadiens

OUT TO LUNCH finds creative business consultant Aileen Bennett conducting business Acadiana style: over lunch. Each week Aileen invites guests from Acadiana's business community to join her. Beyond the foundations of the Acadiana economy - oil, cuisine, music - there is a vast network of entrepreneurs, small businesses, and even some of the country's largest companies who call Acadiana home. Out to Lunch is the cafeteria of the wider Acadiana business community. You can also hear the show on KRVS 88.7FM.

To the rest of the United States, the symbol of Louisiana is the alligator. Gators slither across T-shirts, baseball caps, and posters in every souvenir shop in the state. You can find the cute critters doing everything from smoking a cigarette leaning up against a gas lamp in New Orleans’ French Quarter, to playing the accordion in a pirogue in the shade of a cypress tree on a sleepy bayou. Here in Acadiana,... Read More »

Apparently, back in the dim distant past, people used to get sick, go to a doctor, get cured, and go home. We’d pay the doctor for his or her services, and everybody would walk away happy.
That was a long time ago. Now you go to a doctor, you get a battery of tests, you get referred to another doctor who specializes in what may or may not be wrong with... Read More »

One of the things we’re proudest of in Acadiana is our culture. A big part of it is music and dance. Cajun and Zydeco.
There are similarities and notable differences between Cajun music and dance, and Zydeco music and dance. Leaving aside for the moment the intertwined Acadian and African influences, one major musical difference, obvious even to people from outside, is an instrument you hear in Zydeco only. And that’s the... Read More »

In Acadiana there are a number of Holy Trinities. There’s the original, Christian, one. There’s the roux: onions, peppers and celery. And there’s the Acadian Agricultural trinity – Sugarcane, crawfish, and rice.
In the rice capital of the world, Crowley Louisiana, The Falcon Rice Mill has been a family business since 1950. It’s the only family-run rice mill in the country. And it’s the home of Country Cajun Rice. Today the third generation of... Read More »

We generally talk about heroes in a time of crisis. When we’re in some kind of life-threatening danger, a hero is an ordinary person who does something extraordinary. In the normal course of events, in a small town, a hero can be almost the opposite. A hero can be an extraordinary person who does something ordinary. Like growing vegetables. Or making soap.
In the hands of hometown heroes, these otherwise ordinary events... Read More »

We often hear people lamenting – mostly politicians - that manufacturing in America has hit an all-time low. The catch-cry you hear frequently repeated is, “we don’t make anything here anymore.” Here in Acadiana we know that’s not true. We make pretty much everything.
On this edition of Out to Lunch Aileen Bennett sits in for Peter Ricchiuti and introduces two people who make things: Alison Bohl Dehart and her husband, Peter.
Alison... Read More »

If you travel around Louisiana, you see enormous differences from north to south. And even more from east to west. It’s always been this way, to some extent. But the differences have arguably never been as extreme as they are now.
Here in Lafayette, and in Acadiana in general, we’re going through some pretty major changes as we adjust to the new reality of the oil business. Meanwhile, just an hour’s drive... Read More »

Just 135 miles apart, a 2 hour sprint on the interstate or a scenic ramble on the 90, New Orleans and Lafayette are two of America’s most culturally interesting cities. Economically, though, they’re different.
New Orleans is booming and growing while Lafayette is facing headwinds from a depressed oil economy and the continuing after-effects of floods that are combining to limit opportunity.
Given this situation, it would seem to be an unlikely time... Read More »

If you had a dollar for every time someone on radio or TV said, “Here in Acadiana we’re known for our food,” you probably would have made about a hundred dollars this month already. You wouldn’t be as wealthy, though, if you were collecting a dollar on the sentence, “Here in Acadiana there is a sizeable segment of the population open to a medically holistic, nutritious approach to diet with an... Read More »

A few football seasons ago, after years of losing, the Saints suddenly started to become a winning team. People back then would explain the change of fortune with a knowing look and two words - “Drew Brees.”
In Acadiana, people have recently started exchanging that same knowing look when they talk about the impressive number of new businesses starting up around here. Folks look at each other and say, “U.L.”
What they’re... Read More »

There’s a great deal of uncertainty in the oil business these days. When times are tough and margins are slim, oil producers find ways to trim costs wherever they can.
But, no matter how big or small your company is, there are only so many people you can lay off. There are only so many wells you can close down. Oil producers still need to produce oil. What they want to do... Read More »

If you’re a certain age and in business, you might have had a business mid-life crisis. It’s not about getting a tattoo and a Harley Davidson, it’s about being confronted with a massive change in the way business is done, and deciding what to do about it.
If you started out before the internet, before apps, before social media, and in some cases before the computer, the relentless onslaught of technology... Read More »